Our reviewer is trying Noom long term for 1 year. Follow her yearlong diet and weight loss journey, plus our dietitian weighs in.
Noom has been around for more than 15 years and boasts one of the most trending weight loss platforms around. It’s a blend of a diet and exercise community, expert support, and psychology to round out the trifecta of long-term successful weight management.
According to Noom, people who use the program and adopt a healthy lifestyle can expect to lose 1 to 2 pounds (lb) (0.5 to 1 kilogram [kg]) per week.
But you may wonder whether Noom is a waste of money or an effective program for healthy, sustainable weight loss.
Our registered dietitian tried the platform to assess it from an expert’s perspective and determine whether it’s a program she would recommend to others.
And our newest tester is on board for 12 months to vet Noom’s promise of lasting weight loss and productive paradigm shifts to reframe your relationship with food.
Here are their perspectives, along with everything you need to know about Noom, what it is, how it works, what our testers liked, and what they think could be better. See how the features and program measure up.
Noom
Bottom line
The Noom diet encourages you to eat low calorie, nutrient-dense foods and monitors your progress via a mobile app.
Although its well-established methods are likely effective, it focuses mostly on weight loss. The food psychology of Noom is found through its education courses and modules.
Noom is a mobile app you download to a smartphone or tablet. Noom focuses on behavioral changes, so it calls itself a lifestyle rather than a diet.
Noom relies on a color-coded system for tracking food. It encourages you to eat more “green” foods, which are the least calorie-dense and most nutrient-dense options. These are typically vegetables and whole grains. “Yellow” foods are foods Noom encourages in moderation. These include lean meats and starches. “Orange” foods like desserts and red meats are the most calorie dense and encouraged to be eaten in smaller portions, less frequently.
To support behavior change, the app provides access to the following:
- Weekly challenges and educational information: Topics involve nutrition fundamentals, stress management, goal setting, and healthy habit formation.
- Tools to track your progress: Noom tools allow you to log your meals, exercise regimen, and body weight. So as not to overwhelm you, Noom segues into new programs and sub-apps as you follow your daily lessons. Features include Noom 360 Body Scan, Noom Success Kit, Noom Vibe, and Noom Mood.
- A virtual coaching team: Noom guides and interest-based communities, known as Noom Communities, are meant to help you stay on track through video chats, phone calls, and in-app messaging. Individualized support with behavior change coaches is also available via phone and Zoom for an additional fee.
- Biometric tracking: These features help you monitor your blood sugar and blood pressure levels.
Noom offers a 7-day trial if you’d like to test it out before paying the monthly fee.
Dietitian’s take: A well-designed app and resources — with room for improvement in food tracking
Here are some things registered dietitian Rachael Ajmera, MS, RD, liked about Noom during her experience testing it in 2022:
- App: “The Noom app is well designed, intuitive, and easy to use.”
- Quiz: “The online quiz developed a customized plan based on needs and goals and allowed me to reflect on the habits, behaviors, and environmental factors that may contribute to personal eating patterns.”
- Daily lessons: “I felt the daily lessons were simple and straightforward yet informative. Being able to select the amount of time you want to spend on these daily lessons is also very useful, especially for those who want to spend only a few minutes per day on the app.”
- Support: “The Noom guides were helpful and offered resources, advice, and support, which can definitely be an advantage if you have trouble staying motivated. Additionally, Noom Communities can help you connect with others to foster a sense of support within the community.”
When Ajmera first tested Noom, she felt the tracker tool was a bit cumbersome and confusing when it came to logging her foods each day. Certain foods were categorized as “green” in one entry, but “yellow” or “orange” in others. Since then, the platform has made improvements.
She also noted that several foods that are low in calories and high in fiber or protein were categorized as “orange” or “yellow.” For example, a fiber crispbread with just 20 calories and 4 grams of fiber in a single serving was classified as an orange food.
Noom clarification: The color category classification is not solely based on calorie content but also considers the overall health impact of the food. The same food could be categorized differently based on its preparation method, e.g., fried or sauteed with oil versus air-fried or steamed.
Calorie goals: The number of calories in Ajmera’s daily budget felt very low to her, especially compared with what she normally eats in a day while maintaining her weight. But she said, “I appreciated that I could easily adjust this as needed to set a more realistic and sustainable goal.”
Read on for our tester’s experience with Noom in 2024.
Tester’s take: Food tracking has improved but can still be a bit tedious
Tester Kim Currin is using Noom to recalibrate her relationship with food and put in the work toward weight loss. Medication assistance isn’t an option for her at this time, so she’s leaning on Noom’s guidance, psychology, and communities for support to help her lose a significant amount of weight.
“I have gained 65 lb in the past 5 years after staying the same weight most of my life. I am now prediabetic, and I already have chronic back issues, so the extra weight is hurting my body. I have also developed endometriosis and several uterine fibroids within these weight-gaining years. I want to be in the best health of my life in my 40s. Weight loss is essential to improving my health,” she said.
2024 update: The Noom app has introduced features to enhance the food logging user experience. Nutrition and food information are now more visible, allowing Noomers to see the calorie quantity and color category of a food item right next to its name without needing to click on it.
Currin said she can see how some might find logging cumbersome, but the updated app allows you to scan barcodes of food items and, if you’re like her, you may actually like the idea of keeping a log.
“I often feel like I don’t know how I gained all this weight, but if I can see my own patterns, I can make more sense of my behaviors and wrap my head around where I need to start,” she said.
Month 1
Month 2
If you’re ready to try Noom, here are the steps you can take to get started.
1. Take the online quiz
To start with Noom, you take a simple quiz on the company’s website or the app.
The quiz collects information about your age, weight, health status, and fitness goals. It also asks for details about your current diet, activity levels, and any habits or behaviors that may affect your health.
Here are a few of the questions the quiz asks:
- What feelings are you hoping to achieve during your journey with Noom?
- Which best describes the area you live in?
- How long has it been since you were at your ideal weight?
- Have any life events led to weight gain in the last few years?
2. Set your goals
The app uses information from the online quiz to create a custom plan and provide a realistic timeline for reaching your goals.
As Ajmera went through the quiz, the app adjusted her estimated timeline for reaching her target weight based on her answers.
3. Start using the app
Noom requires users to spend just a few minutes per day on the app. The app provides daily educational articles, tips, and activities you can complete at your own pace.
Currin said the site is intuitive, and there are sub-communities and sub-apps you learn about as you make your way through daily education lessons.
“Every time I think, ‘It would be nice if the site had this or that,’ I find that Noom does! I needed to find better substitutes for the unhealthy choices I was making. I found that in the success kit, I can put in an item like Oreos and it gives me several better choices that will satiate my desires at that moment,” she said.
The app also encourages you to log your food intake, exercise, and weigh-ins, send messages to your Noom guide, and join Noom Communities, which are coach-led, interest-based communities for added support.
Additionally, Noom offers an in-app reward system called Noomcoin. It’s designed to increase motivation to help you complete your daily tasks.
You can easily customize the amount of time you want to spend on Noom lessons each day and choose from specific ranges, including:
- 1 to 4 minutes
- 5 to 8 minutes
- 9 to 12 minutes
Here’s a closer look at how Noom works and how it may support weight loss.
Reduces calorie intake
Noom aims to help you lose weight the same way as most other commercial diet plans and programs by creating a calorie deficit.
A calorie deficit occurs when you
Noom uses an algorithm to estimate your daily calorie needs based on your sex, age, height, weight, and answers to a series of lifestyle questions. When Ajmera used Noom, this was known as the “calorie budget.” Now, Noom provides an ideal calorie range, which is known as the “weight loss zone.”
For safety reasons and to ensure adequate nutrition, the app does not allow a weight loss zone below 1,200 to 1,320 calories for women or 1,400 to 1,540 calories for men.
Noom encourages food logging and weekly weigh-ins. These two self-monitoring behaviors are
Noom also allows you to view an analysis of your foods as you log them throughout the day. It displays the color categories of the foods you’ve eaten, the number of calories you’ve consumed from each category, and your total calorie intake for the day.
When Ajmera tried Noom, the color categories were green, yellow, and red. The company has since updated its categories, replacing red with orange.
Promotes other healthy habits
Noom encourages regular exercise by setting daily step goals and providing a generic workout guide.
Users can log their physical activity in the app, which provides an extensive list of exercises to choose from. Because Ajmera has an iPhone, Noom automatically connected to her Health app to display her total daily steps.
Noom also allows users to track several other measures of progress, including water intake and mood.
If they like, users can enable notifications to set up meal reminders at specific times during the day.
Noom offers the following subscription plans:
- Monthly auto-renewing plan: $70
- 2-month auto-renewing plan: $129
- 3-month auto-renewing plan: $159
- 4-month auto-renewing plan: $169
- 5-month auto-renewing plan: $174
- 6-month auto-renewing plan: $179
- 7-month auto-renewing plan: $184
- 8-month auto-renewing plan: $189
- 9-month auto-renewing plan: $195
- 10-month auto-renewing plan: $199
- 11-month auto-renewing plan: $205
- Annual auto-renewing plan: $209
If you’re confident you’ll use Noom for more than a few months, the company’s yearly membership, at $209 per year, provides the best value. Noom also offers discounts frequently throughout the year.
If you work for a company that offers a workplace health and wellness program, you can contact your human resources department to determine whether you may receive a financial incentive for participating in a wellness program like Noom.
Still, starting at $70 per month for a monthly auto-renewing plan, Noom may cost more than you’re willing or able to spend.
Note: Noom Med — Noom’s weight loss medication service — costs an additional $49 per month and does not include the cost of any medications prescribed to support your weight loss journey.
Available add-ons
For an additional cost, Noom offers several optional add-ons.
You can choose from:
- customized meal plans (PDF format)
- customized workout plans (PDF format)
- a metabolism test kit
- a mental wellness course
- behavior change coaching
- prescription weight loss medications
You can also purchase a smart scale for an additional fee. A smart scale tracks your body weight and several other body composition metrics.
Weight loss medications
Noom recently introduced a new program, Noom Med. It’s intended to be paired with its behavior change program to promote weight loss.
After signing up, you complete a medical intake form, upload a copy of recent blood work, and schedule a video visit with a Noom clinician.
The clinician then assesses whether you’re a candidate for prescription weight loss medications, including GLP-1 agonists. These medications work by reducing your appetite, slowing the emptying of the stomach, and increasing feelings of fullness after you eat.
If you qualify for a prescription, your care team will provide ongoing support, monitor your progress, and adjust your care plan as needed while taking these medications.
Mental wellness course and behavior change coaching
Optionally, you can add a mental wellness course to your subscription for $50. It’s designed to help you minimize stress and manage cravings.
You can also purchase a subscription to work with a behavior change coach for a monthly recurring fee of $150.
According to the company’s customer service team, behavior change coaches can help refine your goals based on your lifestyle and needs. They provide additional support via email, phone, video sessions, or in-app messaging.
Noom also offers a separate program called Noom Mood. It’s designed to help you practice mindfulness and better manage stress levels. However, you cannot enroll in both Noom Mood and the weight management program simultaneously.
Metabolism test kit
Noom recently partnered with Everlywell, which offers an at-home metabolism testing kit.
The testing kit is designed to measure levels of
Users can purchase the kit when signing up or directly on Everlywell’s website. However, because of state regulations, the testing kit is not currently available for residents of New York state.
Noom categorizes foods as green, yellow, or orange (previously red) based on their calories and nutrient density.
The app recommends consuming a set percentage of foods from each color category:
- 30% green
- 45% yellow
- 25% orange
Users receive a target calorie range for their weight loss zone and are allotted a specific number of calories from each category.
For example, of Ajmera’s total daily 1,350-calorie budget, her calorie distribution for each category was as follows:
- Green foods: 405 calories
- Yellow foods: 608 calories
- Orange (formerly red) foods: 337 calories
According to the Noom website, here are examples of foods for each color:
Green
- Fruits: bananas, apples, strawberries, watermelon, blueberries
- Vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, salad greens, carrots, onions, spinach
- Starchy vegetables: parsnips, beets, sweet potatoes, squash
- Dairy: skim milk, nonfat yogurt, nonfat Greek yogurt, nonfat cheese sticks
- Dairy alternatives: unsweetened almond, cashew, or soy milk
- Whole grains: oatmeal, brown rice, whole grain bread, whole grain pita, whole grain pasta, whole grain tortilla, whole grain cereals
- Condiments: marinara, salsa, sauerkraut, ketchup, light mayo
- Beverages: unsweetened tea and coffee
Yellow
- Lean meats: grilled chicken, turkey, and lean cuts of beef, pork, and lamb
- Seafood: tuna, salmon, tilapia, scallops
- Dairy: low fat milk, low fat cheeses, low fat cottage cheese, Greek yogurt
- Legumes and seeds: lentils, pinto beans, chickpeas, peas, quinoa, black beans, soybeans
- Grains and grain products: couscous, white rice, white bread, white pasta
- Beverages: diet soda, light beer
Orange (previously red)
- Meats: ham, red meats, fried meats, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, hamburgers
- Nuts and nut butters: peanut butter, almond butter, almonds, walnuts
- Desserts and sweets: cake, chocolate, cookies, candy, pastries
- Snack foods: french fries, potato chips, energy and snack bars
- Condiments and toppings: butter, mayonnaise, ranch dressing
- Beverages: wine, juices such as orange juice
Remember that, depending on their preparation method, some foods may not necessarily fit into the categories exactly as outlined above.
For example, when logging sweet potatoes, Ajmera found that certain entries — such as grilled sweet potatoes, boiled sweet potatoes, and sweet potato wedges — were classified as green foods. But others — including mashed sweet potatoes, baked sweet potato fries, and oven-roasted sweet potatoes — were yellow foods.
Noom explains this is because some preparations typically require ingredients that can lower the color category, including sugar, more salt, cream, or oil.
Currin added that, for her, “I love seeing infographics that help me to understand my eating habits. It feels like a fun game to me to log my food and then look at the charts and how the calories are divided into the green, yellow, and orange categories. I will notice how full my orange category is and then I will want to fill up my green category.”
After using Noom for several weeks, Ajmera felt that the app made it easier to decrease her calorie intake by categorizing foods as orange (previously red), yellow, or green.
She said she can see the simple color-coded system helping promote long-term weight loss, especially when it’s combined with the quick and easy daily lessons for developing healthy habits.
A 2023 study also found that most overweight Noom users experienced lasting weight maintenance for 1 or even 2 years after leveraging a digital commercial behavior change program. (This study was funded by Noom.)
While any reduced-calorie diet plan or program can help you lose weight if you follow it, sticking with a diet can be difficult for many people. In fact, most diets are unsuccessful because they’re difficult to maintain.
What the research says
While research on Noom’s effectiveness is limited, one
Researchers also found that those who tracked their diet and weight more frequently were more successful at losing weight.
Additionally, a 2020 study including 225 adults with binge eating disorder found Noom to be more effective at reducing the number of days participants engaged in binge eating over 52 weeks compared with standard care offerings.
While all participants in the standard care group were given access to eating disorder services through insurance, only two participants actually received these services during the study. The rest received no treatment.
It’s important to note that the study above was funded in part by Noom, too, and several authors have conflicts of interest because they’re employed by or have equity ownership in Noom.
Overall, more comprehensive research on the program is needed.
Heads-up
Trying to “do it right” when it comes to nutrition may feel tempting, but it can backfire.
If you’re preoccupied with food or your weight, feel guilt surrounding your food choices, or routinely engage in restrictive diets, consider reaching out for support. These behaviors may indicate a disordered relationship with food or an eating disorder.
Disordered eating and eating disorders can affect anyone, regardless of gender identity, race, age, socioeconomic status, or other identities.
Any combination of biological, social, cultural, and environmental factors can cause eating disorders — not just by exposure to diet culture.
Feeling empowered to talk with a qualified healthcare professional, such as a registered dietitian, is welcome and wise.
As with many weight loss apps and programs, Noom’s reviews are mixed.
Positive reviews note that the program provides plenty of guidance, support, and motivation and is effective for long-term weight loss.
On the other hand, less favorable reviews report issues with the food tracker and the app’s functionality, as well as dissatisfaction with the responsiveness and level of support Noom guides offer.
Tester Kim weighs in: 1-month review
Tester Kim Currin tried Noom 5 years ago, and it worked for her weight loss. At the time, the price point was a factor in her continuing. She said the weight loss was not lasting only because she reverted to old habits.
“I know better thanks to Noom, and that is what brought me back to the app. … My mindset was altered in a good way: I saw foods as green, yellow, and red [now orange]. I became more aware of my style of eating, which is ‘storm eating.’ What I learned helped me to make better choices. That consistency of education is what brought me back to Noom. I feel accountable and supported in the app,” Currin said.
She especially enjoys new features like the supplemental app, Noom Vibe, that offers her a community of like-minded folks looking for validation and support.
“You can log your steps, share your workout milestones with friends and family, and even get on the mic or listen to real people across the country talking in real time about their experiences with a live coach! It’s like open-mic night but for fellow Noomers,” she said.
Many popular weight loss plans have several similarities to Noom.
Here’s a closer look at how Noom stacks up against two competitors: Calibrate and WeightWatchers.
• promotes long-term behavioral changes
• interest-based communities
• behavior change coach
• focuses on nutrient density
• not overly restrictive
• provides support
• may not provide enough structure for some people
• offers several plans with varying degrees of flexibility
• meal planning tools
• workout plans on app
• not overly restrictive
• encourages healthy habits
• provides support
• virtual doctors’ visits
• smart scale
• personalized support from a health coach
• includes an initial consult with a doctor
• may be covered (fully or partially) by insurance
• strict eligibility criteria
• requires injectable medications
Noom may be a good option for people who:
- are trying to lose weight but unsure how to get started
- need extra motivation from coaches or peers to stay on track
- are looking to build healthy habits and seeking a more sustainable alternative to fad diets and other short-term solutions
However, Noom might not be suitable for people who:
- regularly cook homemade meals, since logging each individual ingredient may feel tedious or inconvenient
- enjoy cuisines from a variety of cultures or use ingredients in their cooking that are less common in the United States, as the selection of foods available on the app is somewhat limited
- are very active or have increased calorie needs, as Noom provides very low calorie recommendations
If you’re unsure how many calories you should consume each day, our dietitian recommends reaching out to a healthcare professional, such as a registered dietitian.
Additionally, if you have any underlying health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes or kidney disease, you should talk with a healthcare professional before changing your diet.
Noom emphasizes choosing foods with a low calorie density, which may be an effective strategy for weight loss.
One 2016 study found that Noom was effective at promoting weight loss in nearly 78% of users. However, whether Noom will work for you depends on many factors, including your diet and activity level.
Noom’s monthly auto-renewing subscription costs $70. Meanwhile, an annual auto-renewing plan costs $209, which is about $17.42 per month.
However, this cost doesn’t include any optional add-ons, such as behavior change coaching, weight loss medications, custom meal plans, or custom workout routines.
According to Noom, users can expect to lose an average of 1 to 2 lb (0.5 to 1 kg) per week while using the app, though this may depend on several factors, including your diet, lifestyle, health status, and activity level.
While Noom may be a good fit for some people, there are some downsides. Most notably, Noom does not offer in-person interactions with coaches or other Noom members. The cost, concerns around low calorie goals, and potential pitfalls of food tracking are among other downsides of the program.
Noom is an app you can access using a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet.
The app may help people lose weight by promoting low calorie, nutrient-dense foods and encouraging healthy lifestyle changes.
If the cost, manual food logging, and accessibility requirements are acceptable to you, Noom may be worth a try.
